The Associated Press projects Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer beat his Republican opponent Joe Pinion, a former Newsmax host, Tuesday night.

Having secured his fifth term in the Senate, Schumer’s position as majority leader remains in question Tuesday night as votes in key Senate races around the country continue to be counted. Returning to Washington in January, he faces the prospect of a Republican-controlled Congress, as well. 

"I promise to all of you here tonight, and all 20 million New Yorkers whom it is my honor to represent, I will keep fighting, I will keep this fight up for as long as it takes to win," Schumer said in his victory speech shortly after polls closed. "Onward to victory Democrats!"

Schumer ran on his decades-long record representing New York on Capitol Hill, arguing his seniority in the Senate allows him to bring more benefits to the state than a freshman senator. He also pointed to his accomplishments as majority leader, passing major legislation in the past two years as part of President Joe Biden’s agenda. 

"In the last two years under my leadership, the Senate has had the most productive session in decades," Schumer said during a Spectrum News debate in October.

Pinion tried to paint Schumer as out of touch and part of an old guard representing the state that failed to address New Yorkers’ pressing concerns about inflation and public safety. The Yonkers-native was attempting to become New York’s first Black senator. 

"On paper, if you're looking at the history, then this is a fool's errand," Pinion said in a “Capital Tonight” interview in February. "But the hard truth is when you're looking at the reality of New Yorkers we are a state of 19 million and shrinking, because we are a working-class state filled with working-class people and not nearly enough working-class opportunities to be found. If you're unhappy with the world as it is today, you cannot vote for the architects who built it."

But the Republican’s critiques were not enough to convince New York voters to abandon the state’s senior senator, first elected in 1998. A Siena College poll from October found that Schumer was the most popular figure in the state running for election this year, logging a 57% favorable rating.